Collaborative UAV Load Balancing for Heavy Goods Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for delivering goods using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) face challenges such as increased development and operation costs, noise complaints, and control burden as the size and number of UAVs increase to handle heavier loads, leading to route saturation and increased demand for hardware and manpower.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus where a group of UAVs collaborate to transport goods, with a master aircraft identifying and adjusting the load distribution among the UAVs based on actual and target loads, battery levels, and flight states to minimize communication and handling loads for the control device, allowing for efficient and coordinated flight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If the size of the unmanned aerial vehicle is increased to deliver larger and heavier goods, then the load capacity is improved, but the development cost, infrastructure cost, and maintenance cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides a single large UAV into multiple smaller UAVs that work together as a group. Each small UAV has reduced individual complexity and cost, while the collective group achieves the required load capacity. The goods are transported through coordinated effort of multiple segmented units rather than one monolithic vehicle.
2Weight of moving object
If the size of the unmanned aerial vehicle is increased to deliver larger and heavier goods, then the load capacity is improved, but the noise complaints and potential damage from crashes increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the transport system into multiple small UAVs, each individual unit generates less noise and causes less damage in case of crash compared to one large UAV. The distributed architecture reduces the harmful impact on surrounding environments and populations.
3Weight of moving object
If the number of unmanned aerial vehicles is increased to transport heavier goods, then the load capacity is improved, but the route density and saturation increase excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple small UAVs into a coordinated group that operates as a unified transport system. This combination allows the group to handle heavier loads while managing route usage more efficiently than individual UAVs would, reducing overall route saturation through coordinated flight paths and shared infrastructure.
4Weight of moving object
If the number of unmanned aerial vehicles is increased to transport heavier goods, then the load capacity is improved, but the control burden and hardware requirements for the control center increase greatly
Solution Approach 1:
The control center manages multiple small UAVs as a single integrated group rather than individual units. This merging approach allows centralized control of the entire fleet with optimized resource allocation, reducing the incremental control burden compared to managing equivalent individual UAVs separately. The group operates as a unified entity under control center coordination.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a method for delivering goods through an unmanned aerial vehicle group including a plurality of aircraft respectively connected to delivery target goods. The method comprises identifying, by a master aircraft of the unmanned aerial vehicle group, an actual load applied to each of the aircraft by the goods while the unmanned aerial vehicle group is flying to deliver the goods, and controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle group by the master aircraft to adjust the actual load applied to each of the aircraft.